Disclosed herein is a system and method for providing a mobile means to produce a high voltage electric discharge capable of disabling or destroying electric devices, detecting conductors and/or initiating detonation of an explosive device. For example, such an electric discharge can be used to detonate hidden explosive devices such as improvised explosive devices, electronically dispersed devices such as chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRNE) devices, or commercially produced land mines that may be hidden or otherwise obscured from an observer. High voltage can penetrate into the earth and/or travel along the surface of the earth to reach a conductor.
High explosives generally used in such explosive devices can be subdivided into classes by their relative sensitivity to heat and pressure as follows. The most sensitive type of explosives are commonly referred to as primary explosives. Primary explosives are extremely sensitive to mechanical shock, friction and heat to which they respond by rapid burning and/or detonation. The term “detonation” is used to describe an explosive phenomenon whereby chemical decomposition of an explosive is propagated by an explosive shock wave traversing the explosive material at great speeds typically thousands of meters per second. Secondary explosives, also referred to as base explosives, are comparatively insensitive to shock, pressure, friction and heat. Secondary explosives may burn when exposed to heat or flame in small unconfined quantities but when confined, detonation can occur. To ignite detonation, secondary explosives generally require substantially greater heat and/or pressure. In many applications, comparatively small amounts of primary explosives are used to initiate detonation of secondary explosives. Examples of secondary explosives include dynamite, plastic explosives, TNT, RDX, PENT, HMX and others. A third category of high explosives, referred to herein as tertiary explosives, are so insensitive to pressure and heat that they cannot be reliably detonated by practical quantities of primary explosives and instead require an intermediate explosive booster of a secondary explosive to cause detonation. Examples of tertiary explosives include ammonia nitrate fuel mixtures and slurry or wet bag explosives. Tertiary explosives are commercially used in large-scale mining and construction operations and are also used in improvised explosive devices (IED) due to their relative ease of manufacture from commercially available components (e.g., fertilizer and fuel oil).
Explosive devices, including IEDs, generally contain an explosive charge which could be comprised of either a secondary or tertiary explosive (in devices where a tertiary explosive is used, an additional booster charge of a secondary explosive is often found as well), a detonator (which generally includes a primary explosive and possibly a secondary explosive), and an initiation system to trigger the detonation of the detonator. Initiation systems commonly utilize an electric charge to generate heat through resistance to heat the primary explosive sufficiently to initiate detonation.
A common example of a detonator is a blasting cap. There are several different types of blasting caps. One basic form utilizes a fuse that is inserted in a metal cylinder that contains a pyrotechnic ignition mix of a primary explosive and an output explosive. The heat from a lit fuse ignites the pyrotechnic ignition mix which subsequently detonates the primary explosive which then detonates the output explosive that contains sufficient energy to trigger the detonation of a secondary explosive as described above.
Another type of blasting cap uses electrical energy delivered through a fuse wire to initiate detonation. Heat is generated by passing electrical current through the fuse wire to a bridge wire, foil, or electric match located in the blasting cap. The bridge wire, foil or electric match may be located either adjacent to a primary explosive or, in other examples, the bridge wire, foil or electric match may be coated in an ignition material with a pyrotechnic ignition mix located in close proximity to detonate a primary explosive, which, as described above, detonates an output explosive to trigger detonation of the explosive device. Electric current can be supplied with an apparatus as simple as connecting the fuse wire to a battery or an electric current can be triggered by an initiation system that includes a triggering control such as a remote signal or a timer.
Mines, CBRNE devices, and IEDs are extremely diverse in design and may contain many types of initiators, detonators, dispersing technologies, penetrators and explosive loads. Anti-personnel IEDs and mines typically contain shrapnel-generating objects such as nails or ball bearings. IEDs and mines are designed for use against armored targets such as personnel carriers or tanks that generally include armor penetrators such as a copper rod or cone that is propelled by a shaped explosive load. Mines and IEDs are triggered by various methods including but not limited to remote control, infrared or magnetic triggers, pressure sensitive bars or trip wires and command wires.
Military and law enforcement personnel from around the world have developed a number of procedures to deal with mines and IEDs. For example, a remote jamming system has been used to temporarily disable a remote detonation system. In some cases it is believed that the claimed effectiveness of such remote jamming systems, proven or otherwise, has caused IED technology to regress to direct command wire because physical connection between the detonator and explosive device cannot be jammed. However, in other situations it has been found that jamming equipment may only be partially effective because they may not be set to operate within the correct frequency range in order to stop a particular IED. Much of the radio frequency spectrum is unmanaged and in other cases jamming of some portions of the radio frequency spectrum can dangerously interfere with other necessary radio communications.
Other known methods of dealing with mines and IEDs include the use of mine rollers to detonate pressure sensitive devices. High-powered lasers have been used to detonate or burn the explosives in the mine or IED once the mine or IED is identified. Visual detection of the mine or IED and/or alterations to the terrain that were made in placing the mine or IED are some of the current methods used to combat such explosive devices. In any event, mines and IEDs continue to pose a threat and improved systems and methods for safely dealing with them are still needed.